1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a combined container-syringe which can be pre-filled with a drug, stored, and immediately used after removal from the packaging at the time of usage, and an assembly method of the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Combined container-syringes, in which an injection needle is pre-fitted to the tip of a syringe body, can be immediately used upon removal from the packaging material without complicated operations. Recently, these combined container-syringes are enjoying wide use in hospital settings due to their superior convenience and ability to reduce the work of physicians and nurses alike.
However, with regard to the conventional combined container-syringe, the injection needle is randomly assembled with respect to the syringe body, such that, in general, the positions on the circumference of the syringe body of the numbers showing the scale and capacity, characters, medication name, and other important information displayed on the syringe body; cutting surface of the injection needle; and finger rest of the finger grip attached to the posterior end of the syringe body are not aligned with each other. Hence, currently, a method does not exist for assembling a combined container-syringe, in which the positions of the aforementioned display, cutting surface of the injection needle, and finger rest of the finger grip are automatically confirmed and mechanically aligned.
In particular, with regard to conventional combined container-syringes which use the luer lock method (i.e., construction in which the injection needle cannot suddenly come out of the syringe body during injection) employing a screw in the tip of the syringe body, when screwing the injection needle into the tip of the syringe body, the attachment position of the aforementioned is the location at which, depending on the screw, the needle rests after undergoing tightening using a fixed force. This attachment position is not a fixed position wherein the injection needle is compulsively set and fixed into a predetermined positional relationship with respect to the circumference of the syringe body. Consequently, it is not possible to perform minor adjustments to align the positions of the cutting surface of the injection needle, the finger rest of the finger grip, display scale, and the like with each other.
As a result, with respect to these combined container-syringes in which the positions of the cutting surface of the injection needle, the finger rest of the finger grip, display scale, and the like are not in alignment with each other, it is necessary for physicians and nurses to loosen the injection needle attached to the syringe body from the tip of the syringe body, and confirm the orientation of the cutting surface of the injection needle from outside of the protector covering the injection needle. It is then necessary to adjust the cutting surface of the injection needle to the positions of the finger rest of the finger grip, display scale, and the like, and re-fix the injection needle into the tip of the syringe body prior to use. With this action, the convenience and safety of the device are lost, such that improvements thereof are in great demand.
In particular, when the tip of the syringe body uses the aforementioned luer lock method, it is not possible to determine where to orient and fix the position of the cutting surface of the injection needle, which has been assembled with respect to the relationship between the screw position, tapered portion of the tip (luer tip), and thickness of the injection needle at the needle base. Likewise, it is also not possible to freely adjust the position of the cutting surface of the injection needle, such that even when the cutting surface is oriented in a different direction than that of the display scale and the like, or alternatively is not aligned with the position of the finger rest of the finger grip (flange or collar), the injection must be inconveniently administered in the aforementioned state. In addition, there is also the danger that the user will, at times, forget that the tip utilizes a luer lock mechanism, and attempt to forcibly adjust the positions of the cutting surface of the injection needle with the scale of the syringe body, and the like.
At such times, problems exist such as causing damage to the needle base or luer lock tip screw when forcibly rotating the injection needle to adjust the position of the cutting surface of the injection needle with that of the scale of the syringe body, and the like; and loosening of the lock between the injection needle and syringe body during attempts to adjust the cutting surface with the display scale by rotating the injection needle in the direction opposite that of the screw lock, which in turn, results in leakage of the medication from between the aforementioned tip and needle. In this manner, the preparation of an injection becomes extremely complex.